Brad Keselowski took the Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang to Victory Lane in Friday night’s XFINITY Series race, and although he couldn’t do the same with the Fitzgerald Ford Fusion in the Monster Energy Cup Series event the following night, the 2 Crew still showed great progress and speed in the final race of the regular season.
Kes was in strong position for much of the night in the Federated Auto Parts 400, but contact from Kurt Busch on the final restart sent Brad sliding out of line and forced him to settle for an 11th-place finish. Despite the result, the Team Penske driver left happy with the speed shown in his Ford with the Playoffs set to begin.
“We had a really fast Fitzgerald Glider Ford. Early in the race, I thought we were going to drive up and win it, and then the last two or three runs we just kind of lost the handle, but all in all a strong day,” Brad said. “We’re still looking for some rear downforce in the Fords. I think if we had that, we might have had a shot at it, but, all in all, we ran solid and ran competitive, so that’s good.”
The No. 2 Fitzgerald Ford qualified 15th but quickly showed its power when the green flag dropped. By the time the first caution flag flew at lap 35 of the scheduled 400-lap event, he had cracked the Top 10. After staying out and eschewing pit road just before the end of Stage 1, Brad had an incident with the other Busch brother, Kyle, and was slid out of line and all the way back to 21st at the end of the segement.
He was 20th when Stage 2 began, but with his work cut out for him, Kes used a fast Fitzgerald Ford to power his way to fifth by the end of a caution-free Stage 2.
As the night wore on, the impeccable balance that helped Brad pass 15 competitors in Stage 2 began to fade away. But while the black and green Deuce wasn’t as strong as before, Kes kept it in the Top 5. A wise pit call by Paul Wolfe allowed Brad to lead laps and have a look at a Richmond Raceway sweep—but a late-race caution halted his advance.
Brad restarted fourth for overtime in Richmond but was bounced by Kurt Busch on a wild final restart and settled for 11th place.
“Yeah, you get these late-race yellows and everybody puts tires on and you just kind of play the bonsai game and I got bonsaied, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” Brad said afterward. “I’ve been on the other end of that too.”
Kes enters the MENCS Playoffs in a strong position at fourth in points. The 10-race postseason battle begins next week at Chicagoland Speedway.
PLAYOFF POINT STANDINGS
- Martin Truex Jr. (2053)
- Kyle Larson (2033)
- Kyle Busch (2029)
- Brad Keselowski (2019)
- Jimmie Johnson (2017)
- Kevin Harvick (2015)
- Denny Hamlin (2013)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2010)
- Ryan Blaney (2008)
- Chase Elliott (2006)
- Ryan Newman (2005)
- Kurt Busch (2005)
- Kasey Kahne (2005)
- Austin Dillon (2005)
- Matt Kenseth (2005)
- Jamie McMurray (2003)